Time to clean up the prize ring... and first drug cheat to go must be Peterson

It was never going to be easy for Lamont Peterson to explain away the positive dope test which aborted his re-match with Amir Khan, even less so when he let slip the admission that he was pumped full of steroids for his dodgy victory in the first fight. Now it looks impossible.

Having pleaded for the chance to present medical justification for having a pellet stuffed with drugs implanted in his hip – hardly something you could fail to notice – Peterson has neglected to turn up not once but twice now for the hearing in Las Vegas.

Understandably, the Nevada State Athletic Commission are in no rush to schedule a third date. Although some time in August has been suggested they could be forgiven for supposing that Peterson would rather put his seemingly flimsy case in his home town of Washington, where the referee and judges had as much to do with him being given Khan's world light-welterweight titles as his own efforts in the ring.

Ban him: Lamont Peterson's win over Amir Khan was tainted by his drug use

By rights, Peterson should already be serving at least a two-year ban.

Meanwhile, this high-profile sage in America has enabled some in this country with vested interests to propagate the myth that drug abuse in British boxing is no more than a pimple on all the muscles bulging in America, where world champion cheats are being rounded up in droves.

Not even the four-year ban recently imposed on Larry Olubamiwo for ingesting enough chemical substances to rocket him to the moon – with enough left over to put hairs on Katy Perry's chest - was enough to draw back the veil. Now that heresy is about to be fully exposed.

Another London heavyweight, Baghdad-born Ali Adams, has posted an admission that he failed a drugs after losing to Audley Harrison in our former Olympic champion's latest comeback.

Not only that but more – and bigger – names are said to be falling foul of the British Boxing Board of Control's admirably increased programme of random drugs testing, with their identities soon to be revealed.

Final preparations: Khan (right) is training to fight Danny Garcia this Saturday

This is not the black eye for boxing, as the old cliché would have it. Nowhere in sport does steroid abuse bring deadlier danger to the opponent than in the prize-ring. The cleaner the Board of Control can render the hardest game, the better... and safer.

Which is what makes so lamentable the delay in stripping Lamont of his world titles and returning them to their rightful British owner.

The WBA are reported to have said they will reinstate Khan in time for this Saturday's fight with Philadelphia's undefeated WBC belt-holder Danny Garcia. But there is no confirmation in writing and Peterson is still cited as the champion on the WBA website.

As for the IBF... just a limp-wristed refusal to do anything before Peterson tries to convince them that his doctor was only trying to correct an anabolic deficiency in his system. If his attendance record in Nevada is anything to go by, they will be waiting a long time.

Khan returns to Las Vegas with relish to challenge Garcia – and hopefully defend his WBA title in what would then become a unification bout. He deserves the distinction of entering that ring as a world champion, as does British boxing by association.

The more titles that are on the line at the Mandalay Bay the sharper the contrast with the un-titled return brawl between disgraced Munich refugees David Haye and Dereck Chisora that same night at West Ham's football ground.

Khan-Garcia is live Saturday night on Sky Sports 1 HD. Haye-Chisora is live Saturday night on BoxNation (via Sky Ch. 437 or Virgin Ch. 546) by £10 per monthly subscription.

Brit pack have it all to prove

As Amir Khan strives – inside and outside the ring – to rejoin Carl Froch, Nathan Cleverly and Ricky Burns in the ranks of world champions – the next generation of British contenders approach their moment of truth.

Kell Brook discovered in his struggle to stave off Carson Jones that living anything less than the spartan professional lifestyle is unlikely to lead to a world title.

Making names for themselves: Kell Brook (left) and Tyson Fury (right)

Tyson Fury needs sterner preparation for challenging the Klitschkos than human punch-bag Vinny Maddalone, who was questionably licensed to fight him on Saturday night.

George Grove and James DeGale must fight more meaningful opponents more often.